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100s of bank failures during the S&L crisis - but that was also because in some states (like TX) each branch was a separate bank. So in some cases one name brand bank failure translated to 20, 50 or more individual failures.

That we don't know what will happen is the problem. To oversimplify, if we'd have passed the bailout bill our downside would have been $700,000,000,000. But since we didn't pass it our downside could be potentially unlimited. WaMu went splat last week, Wachovia went splat today. I hate to think about what is next. Now is not the time to roll the dice.

I looked at the bailout as a kind of insurance. Flood insurance may cost alot, and you might use it once every hundred years, but it can be the difference between financial survival and spending the rest of your days as a Wal-Mart greeter when a big flood hits.

But both WAMU and Wachovia were bought and the 'main street' did not suffer... yes, the investors lost, but if you have a checking account with either, you lost nothing...

I am confident that money will choose the winners and the losers quickly... and it will get sorted out...

__________________
"To know what you prefer, instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive". Robert Louis Stevenson, An Inland Voyage (1878)

My Republican rep voted against it (and her e-mail is not functioning, gee, I wonder why)--my senators would vote for it (Obama and Durbin) if it got to them.

But I've decided my vote against all incumbents from now on will be my imaginary term limits--one term in office only, to keep our elected officials from focusing on reelection and appearances and worrying about what their constituents will think about their votes.

With the failure of the Paulson bailout bill, at least two great crimes have been avoided with 100% certainty:
(1) the theft of money from prudent savers like me to cover the bad debts of imprudent speculators on Wall Street and Main Street
(2) the theft of money from the future in order to create an artificial prosperity today.

Have we committed another great crime by not passing the bill? Maybe, maybe not. It depends how much innocents will suffer as the future unfolds. For now, I'm delighted that the two great crimes have been avoided (especially since I was going to be one of the victims).

Republicans, stick to your guns! Don't give in to the Kleptocracy! The Paulson bailout in any way, shape, or form must stay dead! Other less expensive, more carefully managed, more carefully analyzed, more highly targeted, and ultimately (possibly) more effective approaches can be devised in the future if the situation warrants.

Note to Obama: your proposed 'Great Society' spending programs might be acceptable if the U.S. were solvent, but we're effectively bankrupt. It's time to stop hiding our serious problems behind a sea of deficit spending. The recognition that we have a problem is the first step to solving it.

to keep our elected officials from focusing on reelection and appearances and worrying about what their constituents will think about their votes.

__________________
"To know what you prefer, instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive". Robert Louis Stevenson, An Inland Voyage (1878)

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Quote:

Originally Posted by socca

Have we committed another great crime by not passing the bill? Maybe, maybe not. It depends how much innocents will suffer as the future unfolds. For now, I'm delighted that the two great crimes have been avoided (especially since I was going to be one of the victims).

to poorly paraphrase one talking tv head i heard recently: when our economy goes south, people here suffer. but when our economy goes south, third world people die.

__________________"off with their heads"~~dr. joseph-ignace guillotin

"life should begin with age and its privileges and accumulations, and end with youth and its capacity to splendidly enjoy such advantages."~~mark twain - letter to edward kimmitt 1901

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